Jerome Wetzel is the Chief Television Critic for Seat42F and a regular contributing reviewer on Blogcritics. He also appears on The Good, The Bad, and the Geeky podcast and Let's Talk TV With Barbara Barnett.

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Saturday, June 29, 2013

Few "Cha-Cha-Changes" For PERCEPTION

TNT’s PERCEPTION picks up months after
the previous season in this week’s sophomore premiere, “Ch-Ch-Changes.”
Daniel Pierce (Eric McCormack) is seemingly stable and healthy, having
found a medication regime that works for him, and his life is moving on.
Which is why he feels strong enough to assist the F.B.I. again when
Kate (Rachael Leigh Cook) asks him for help.

In fact, Daniel is more confident and
sure of himself than we’ve practically ever seen him. Daniel is a very
intelligent person and knows it, but he is willing to push his ideas a
lot further this year, especially when Kate’s almost-ex-husband and new
boss, Donnie (Scott Wolf, V, Everwood), tries to manipulate the evidence
of a court case.

I don’t buy that Donnie and Kate were
ever a couple. Donnie’s personality is awful, and that’s immediately
apparent. To think that Kate found redeeming qualities in this man for
any length of time, let alone enough to marry him, is unthinkable based
on her characters that have been established. Sure, Donnie brings some
interesting conflict to the series, but the inconsistency in the back
story ruins his presence. Why force the history?

The source of Daniel’s happiness comes
from his secret relationship with Dr. Caroline Newsome (Kelly Rowan).
Previously his psychiatrist and the same woman, sort of, Daniel
hallucinates a long-term relationship with, Caroline isn’t completely
comfortable with the time they are spending together and the “great” sex
they are having. But Daniel doesn’t worry about that, delighting in
just being happy and being with a woman that is real.

Or is she? It is not spoiling anything
to say Caroline’s existence in Daniel’s company is immediately suspect.
After all, PERCEPTION has established a pattern of what Daniel
experiences not necessarily being real. And by keeping Caroline
separate, away from the other people in Daniel’s life, there is no
definitive proof that she exists one way or the other. “Ch-Ch-Changes”
leaves viewers guessing for most of the hour, and I won’t say what the
result is here.

I will say that, Caroline aside, it
doesn’t take long for Daniel’s paranoid schizophrenia symptoms to rear
their head. His hand shakes; he hallucinates a patient. Daniel will
never be completely stable because that would ruin the conceit of
PERCEPTION. It’s just a little sad, for those sympathetic with the
character, to see he isn’t doing as well as he thinks he is.

Thankfully, Daniel still has friends,
which will provide a support system no matter what might be going on
inside of his mind. Kate is closest to him, of course, valuing Daniel’s
rare talents. But we also have Lewicki (Arjay Smith), Daniel’s care
giver, and Dean Haley (LeVar Burton), Daniel’s boss and old friend, who
aren’t on screen nearly enough, but it’s always great when they are.
With this layer of protection around Daniel, no matter how crazy he
gets, he’ll still have those that look out for him and help him to
maintain his life.

The ongoing plot concerning Daniel’s
mental illness is an intriguing one. I love how the writers play with
fan’s minds, and McCormack delivers a memorable, amazing performance in
the role. I wish that this was what the series was actually about,
because any time this arc takes center stage, the show gets really,
really good.

Unfortunately, TNT doesn’t usually do
serial, and the main meat of this episode, as well as all but one of the
first season’s episodes, is about a specific case that Daniel works on.
The self-contained story this week isn’t bad, and there are some
triumphant moments for Daniel, but it just pales in comparison to how
well done the other scenes are. PERCEPTION is an example of a wonderful
idea mostly squandered.